Taking Office

Early in the morning of September 17, 2016, Shiraishi Kuro was walking through Beika Shopping Street...

Past this shopping street, a short distance south, was Beika Police Station. To familiarize himself with the area, Shiraishi had walked all the way here.

Just then...

"Stop!"

"Brat! It's you again!"

"Ha ha ha, no way I'm stopping! You can't even catch a brat, you trashy old men, trashy cops! Trash, trash!"

Amid the commotion, a young girl in simple sportswear was being chased by several police officers, some in business suits and some in uniforms. The young girl had impressive stamina; even as she ran, she did not forget to taunt them.

The uniformed ones were Patrol Officers from the local police box, while those in business suits were generally Detectives—Detectives did not need to wear uniforms during ordinary investigations.

Seriously...

This little brat looked only seventeen or eighteen, yet she ran incredibly fast!

Shiraishi Kuro had originally wanted to observe the officers' abilities—after all, if he was not mistaken, these should be officers from Beika Police Station!

But then...

Shiraishi Kuro's ears twitched slightly. He heard the roar of a car engine and could tell from the sound that it was a Fengtian police car!

The sound came from the road beyond the shopping street's exit ahead. After a brief assessment, Shiraishi understood—if this continued, the little brat would likely be hit when she suddenly ran out.

So...

Bang—

When Shiraishi started running, the air itself seemed to tear with sharp bursts of wind, as though something had been launched!

A deep scuff mark was left on the stone pavement of the shopping street where his shoe sole had scraped hard against it.

The next moment...

Whoosh—

The two Detectives, Gen and Yamada, only heard a gust of wind beside them before an "inexplicable giant object" swept past them—and it had overtaken them from behind!

Though they were still running, with that enormous figure as a reference point, a sense of helplessness rose in their hearts. As they watched his back rapidly pull away, it felt as though they were not running at all.

Further behind them, the female Patrol Officer Kawai Mai was utterly stunned—she had watched the entire thing happen. That "giant" had suddenly started running and, before his initial acceleration was even complete, instantly overtaken the two senior Detectives sprinting at full speed...

What kind of speed was that?

The next moment, they also saw the speeding police car that was trying to cut off the thief!

The Patrol Officer driving clearly had not expected this brat to run so fast. Now that she had suddenly appeared, the thief had no time to stop, and the police car had no time to turn...

Mononobe Gina, who was running, suddenly contracted her pupils—she had made quite a haul at the morning market today, but unfortunately she had alerted several cops. Luckily, she ran fast, and those trashy officers could not catch her. But now...

Just as Gina's life flashed before her eyes, the back of her collar suddenly tightened. Her entire body was yanked backward and "flew" into the air, then twisted midair before landing in a huge, "solid" embrace.

Duang—

Crack—

At the final moment, Shiraishi Kuro grabbed the "thief" by the back of her collar, then turned and shielded her in his arms. His back slammed hard into the police car, shattering its front-left headlight!

Shiraishi collapsed into a sitting position beside the police car, which also shook violently...

Gina, who had been yelling "trash, trash" just moments ago, had gone pale and silent. She was clearly terrified.

The officers were equally frightened!

"Ah! This is bad!"

"Kawai, call an ambulance!"

"Sir, are you all right?"

Another female police officer got out of the car and anxiously gathered around Shiraishi, but...

The next moment, Shiraishi stood right up.

"Please don't move yet. Sometimes, if you don't feel pain, it means the injury is actually serious..."

"That's right! The ambulance will be here soon!"

The officers instinctively wanted to push him back down—if they accidentally killed or injured a civilian who had helped catch a thief, they could not bear the responsibility even if they were tied together!

But once Shiraishi stood up, his sheer size left them speechless.

"Ha ha ha, don't be so nervous..." Shiraishi looked at the young officers and smiled first, easing their tension.

With Shiraishi's [Spirit], when he adopted a "gentle" demeanor, he possessed a reassuring presence.

Then Shiraishi took out his new police identification...

"I'm one of you too... You're from Beika Police Station, right? I'm your new chief. Please take care of me from now on," Shiraishi said calmly.

"So you're one of... Huh? Wait..."

"Ch-Chief?"

"Mm? Didn't you receive the notice?" Shiraishi asked, puzzled by their shocked expressions.

"You... No, sir, you are... Chief Shiraishi?" Fujisato Seiko, who had been driving the police car, was the first to react.

"Mm, the handover has not officially happened yet, so let's not talk about that... This young girl is the suspect, right?" Shiraishi said as he lifted the silent Gina slightly.

Gina was clearly still shaken and had none of the earlier "trash, trash" bravado.

Gen showed a helpless expression as well. "That's right... Miss Gina, you'll be eighteen in two months!"

So she really was a minor. No wonder she had been so arrogant!

Although the Eastern Island Nation considered twenty to be adulthood, once someone turned eighteen, they basically had no legal protection left. Besides, starting next April, eighteen would officially count as full adulthood.

Shiraishi also noticed that this suspect named Gina was not only young, but had exceptionally fair skin and facial features unlike those of ordinary East Asians. She was probably mixed-race.

"Hurry up and become an adult! If we catch you stealing again then, we won't be sending you to meet the big sisters in the Juvenile Division!" Yamada said irritably from the side.

Apparently, she was a habitual thief...

"All right, deal with this first. I need to go to the police station," Shiraishi told them.

"Yes, sir!"

All four of them immediately gave nervous salutes.

"That really isn't necessary..." Shiraishi smiled, then turned and left.

It was not that they were particularly thorough with formalities. They had simply been badly startled!

After all, it was not every day that they caught a thief early in the morning and rammed their new chief head-on...

"Ah! Section Chief Fuji, our patrol car..." Only then did Kawai have time to look over the vehicle's damage.

Good grief, it was not just the headlight that had broken!

The entire side with the headlight had been dented inward...

"Tsk, Fengtian's quality really is terrible!" Section Chief Fuji immediately shifted the blame onto Fengtian.

"No, no, this isn't Fengtian's fault... The chief was just too tough, wasn't he? And... what was that speed just now? They say he beat several hundred violent gang members to death by himself in Kanagawa... That can't be true, can it?" the young Yamada complained.

"Enough. It's already a blessing that the chief is fine... By the way, why is this brat so quiet today?" Gen looked at the captured Gina—since she was a minor, they had not handcuffed her.

"Ha ha ha, this brat finally understands how formidable us police officers are!" Yamada laughed twice. It was not his first time being led around in circles by Gina.

Under normal circumstances, Gina would have already mocked him—yes, yes, you and your chief are so amazing.

But still shaken by the near-death experience, Gina merely bit her lip and said nothing.

Meanwhile, although Shiraishi had encountered a minor accident, he had at least not been late on his first day. He was now in the chief's office, meeting the old chief with whom he would be handing over duties...

Note: The four police officers appearing in this chapter were all based on characters from the anime version of Police in a Pod, while the female thief was based on "Gina" from the game The Great Ace Attorney.

They are merely "inspirations"; only the character concepts were borrowed, and they do not involve specific stories or settings! (Manually added pictures in the comments section.)

Or, if you like Erika Toda, you are free to search for her live-action Police in a Pod look yourself.